You Would Not Believe The Day I'm Having
by scarlet phlame
Summary: The Doctor takes Madeline to visit Wonderland. Except sometimes it's a bit hard to leave everything you've ever dreamt of behind. (I own nothing.) ONESHOT.


_**Soooo bored and tired. **_

_**...Did I mention tired?**_

* * *

"The Tenth organization of Arsardia," the Doctor said. "Although some call it Wonderl-"

"Wonderland," Madeline finished for him, with a grin. "But is it really real, though? How would Lewis Carroll know this place actually existed in order to write about it?"

The Doctor sent her a cheeky grin. She groaned.

"Oh, no. Did you... Did you have to do something with it?"

He just winked at her.

"Arsadia, eh," she said, looking around and crinkling up her nose. "That's like... such an ugly name. It sounds like sardines, a bit."

"'Pose," the Doctor said, sounding a bit funny. "Maybe they should rename it 'Sardine Land'?"

"Probably," Madeline agreed. "Wait! Are all the residents... singing animals?"

The Doctor scoffed. "Singing animals? Don't be daft. They can't sing, they just talk. Take my word on it," he said, wincing.

"That's a shame," Madeline said. "I'd love to see singing animals in Wonderland."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You'd love to see singing _anything_."

"Precisely," Madeline said, grinning, then pausing. "Is there a mad hatter or something? Is the White Rabbit actually real?"

"No," the Doctor said. "Lewis incorporated them into his story."

Madeline shot a glance at him. "Don't tell me how you know that."

"Wasn't planning to."

"I don't believe you were involved in the creation of that story," Madeline told him.

"I was," he said. "I was." he glanced up and around. "We should get going sooner or later. Wonderland always gives me a bit of a headache."

* * *

Seven hours later, they had not left.

Madeline had been swept up in the excitement of the place, the mystery, the magic. She'd seen the start and end of planets, but _this_ place, _this_ was perhaps the most perfect place she'd ever seen in her life.

They'd said sooner or later, but when the time came, Madeline refused.

"Can't we stay here for... I dunno. A day?" she pleaded.

The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "It's..." he looked around. "Madeline, we can't stay. It's a bit complicated."

"I like complicated," she said stubbornly.

"Madeline, we can't."

"Why not? You're always running off to London," Madeline told him, ignoring the Doctor's look. "Don't act like you don't know. You always fly the TARDIS off at night to go see that girl by the Powell Estate..."

"That's different," he snapped.

"Really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Madeline, inside the TARDIS, now," he told her coldly.

"I'm not going in there," Madeline said.

"You have a family," he was pleading with her now. "In New York, you've got a family. You can't stay here, I'm sorry."

"Can too," Madeline said. "You've got a time machine. Come pick me up later."

The Doctor glanced around nervously. "You've got to come with me, now."

"Why?" Madeline asked lazily.

"Because the Queen of Hearts has noticed we're here, and she's..." the Doctor froze, glancing about and behind him, before turning back to her. "she's trying to bounce us back off this world. And if we don't get inside the TARDIS, the exchange will kill us."

"Ha," she said. "Queen of Hearts. How long did it take you t' come up with that one?"

"TARDIS, now," he told her, going to unlock the door, and stepping inside.

"Nope," Madeline said. "Not goin'."

"Madeline, we've got two minutes at most," he told her.

"I don't believe you," she said stubbornly. He tried to grab her and pull her in, but she was a lot stronger.

"I'm... not... going!" she shouted. "I don't want to go!"

"I can see that!" the Doctor yelled. She pulled her arm from his grasp and from the impact the Doctor stumbled into the TARDIS, just in the doorway.

"I hate you!" she screamed. "I finally find something that I-"

She froze in mid-sentence as the Doctor was blown backwards into the TARDIS. He hit the console, unconscious.

And the TARDIS was blown away.

"What..." she looked down at her arm where the Doctor had grabbed her.

Something. He'd put some kind of bracelet there.

A lump rose in her throat. Shielding. From the Queen trying to bounce them off.

He hadn't been lying.

"He'll remember," she told herself. "That was a light blow. He won't forget me."

_You've only been with him a week_, a little voice in her head reprimanded her.

She let this sink in.

"No," she finally said. "He'll remember. He'll remember."

He didn't.


End file.
